Investigators in the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center (DCCC) seek to create a Program of Research in Early Breast Cancer which will join 12 approved research programs and utilize 23 shared resources in the DCCC to accomplish its goals. Although the first Program of Research for a single disease or organ site, the program will involve investigators in seven clinical departments, ten basic science departments, and three centers within the University. The goals of this enterprise are to advance research into the cause and prevention, early detection, and primary treatment of breast cancer. To realize these goals, three distinguished individuals will serve on an External Advisory Panel representing clinical research, fundamental molecular biology, and environmental carcinogenesis. A Scientific Advisory Board representing several participating Departments and Centers within the University will advise the Director, who will be assisted on a daily basis by a Steering Committee of breast cancer researchers and clinicians. Grass-roots support has resulted in more than 45 preliminary proposals for research from nearly every department in the Medical Center. A peer-review process for funding pilot projects will include incentives to maximize self-sustaining research. Ample money will be made available to participating Departments for recruitment of new faculty with a breast cancer research agenda. Matching funds will be contributed by the DCCC to support our recruitment. Support for two individuals in the first year will be shared with Departments of Pathology and Pharmacology. Ad-hoc planning retreats will be formalized and opened to wider participation within the Medical Center. New research will be fostered by "clubs" of investigators with similar interests, scholarships to meetings and post-graduate courses, research-in-progress dinner meetings, and a newsletter with reviews of important advances. At the end of the four year planning phase, we will formally join with the Cancer Center as an established Program of Research in Early Breast Cancer.